This proposal is for a two-year renewal of an ongoing study of mental illness and divorce. A life span approach is used to investigate the mental health status of men and women who are engaged in the process of divorce. Although concerned with those at all stages of adult life, the middle aged and older are of particular interest due to the lack of information available on divorce in the second half of life. The major premise of the study is that divorce often represents an attempt by the individual to cope with a wide range of potential problems, and that the divorce process has within it the potential for both mental health and mental illness. There are three principal lines of inquiry. The first is the identification of individuals at risk, a goal which will be facilitated by the continued development of models of mental health. Those who exhibit many signs and symptoms of mental illness will be contrasted with those who appear to be making satisfactory adjustment. The second line of inquiry concerns clarification of the stressors and stress mediators in the divorce process. Although generally recognized to constitute a severe stress, little is known concerning the sources of distress or how they cope. The third line of inquiry concerns specification of the divorce process in terms of an evolving model of transitions. This model has been helpful in the clarification of problems facing the recently-separated. The research approach is a life span design with repeated measurements. The follow-up phase recontacted 85 percent (N equals 283) of the original sample. An interdisciplinary approach to data collection was employed, with the result that the data is both rich and broad in scope. The analytic design allows the research to contrast the stress and mental health of respondents during the marital separation with their condition approximately three and one-half years later. An important issue to be addressed is whether those who stand at short-term risk of mental disorder are the same people who stand at long-term risk.